Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." This philosophy is reflected in the latest move of Akon Lighting Africa, an endeavor to bring electricity to rural Africa. The founders of the initiative – Akon, Thione Niang, and Samba Bathily – were recently honored at the second United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum in New York for their work.

Akon Lighting Africa goes beyond short-term philanthropy. Rather, the driving force behind it is long-term goals of sustainability. The project is meant to be a stepping stone for the development of future infrastructure while also providing jobs for locals. Beyond even that though, Akon Lighting Africa will not only capitalize on resources readily available in the environment (Africa has 320 sunny days per year, making it an ideal place for solar power initiatives), it aims to tap into human capital as well. The project recognizes that education is the best way to lead to self-sufficiency and therefore long-term success of the project. Thus, the next phase of Akon Lighting Africa is the creation of a Solar Academy to “develop skills and expertise in this field in Africa.”

The academy “targets future African entrepreneurs, engineers and technicians” and will open this summer in Mali for “any Africans wanting to help develop the use of solar power.” At the forum in New York Samba Bathily explained, “We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise and that is our objective… We can achieve great milestones and accelerate the African transformation process on condition that we start training a new generation of highly qualified African engineers, technicians and entrepreneurs now.”

Education is the key to the future, not only in Africa, a continent where 70% of the population is younger than 35. Hopefully, you also recognize the long-lasting potential and power of education to find personal success but also to improve society to the benefit of all.
 
-Samantha Phillips

Sources:
Huffington Post: Akon Launches Academy To Help Provide Electricity To 600 Million People In Africa
Next steps for Akon Lighting Africa: Launch of the first Solar Academy in Africa
USA Today: 15 of Nelson Mandela's best quotes

I bet if you think back to your early school days, you don’t remember many specifics about the lessons you learned. You remember the games you played and the creative projects you were proud of. Recently, however, there has been a trend in education to cut back on playtime in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. This time is being replaced by more formal lessons because the education system is now pushing for teachers to get cracking right away. There’s concern that if reading and math aren’t taught as soon as possible, students will forever fall behind.

While this may seem logical, the importance of play should not be underestimated. The format of lessons, as I discussed in my first blog post, is critical. If children can learn without even realizing it, they will not only absorb important information faster, they will have a more positive experience doing it. Their relationship with education will begin on a good note, rather than experiencing the stress that is associated with earlier formal schooling.

This trend is in alignment with other recent education movements that push teaching to standardized tests over creativity in the classroom. The frustration that teachers are feeling as a consequence of this came up in both interviews with educators that I had the honor of conducting for this blog. But the government and administrations are focusing in on scores and benchmarks over individual experiences with education. There are obviously reasons behind this approach, including America’s performance in comparison to other countries and the need to stay competitive in a globalized world.

However, the statistics aren’t showing that taking out play time is accomplishing these goals. As I see it, this will only hurt students in the long run. A child will be spending many years in school; their first impression of it should be a good one, rather than a stressful one. The presentation of material should make students want to learn, at any level. Thus, I believe that these stricter education trends should be reevaluated.  

-Samantha Phillips

Do you believe ‘the earlier, the better’ for formal education or that play time has long-term benefits in a child’s education?

Source: 
New York Times: Let the Kids Learn Through Play

What does a library mean to an individual and to a society? I offer the following quotes in response:

“Without libraries, what do we have? We have no past and no future.” –Ray Bradbury

“At the moment that we persuade a child to cross that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It’s an enormous force for good.” –Barack Obama

“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.” –Sidney Sheldon

A public library is an invaluable source of information which is open to all individuals. It encourages and enables the process of learning. Someone can find who they are through the resources in a library and access tools to help them achieve success. The library has the chance to spark imagination and provide a safe place for anyone who needs it. It is a tool which leads to an informed public, covering all of history to current events while also addressing important issues. It is a portal to countless places, both real and fictional. You can travel to new worlds and different times from a library. It is also a community-based sphere. Events happen in a library to bring people together, educate children, entertain adults, and more. The library has no limits to its potential. 

4T’s is proud to partner with the New York Public Library and to be part of all a public library has to offer to those who take advantage of it. Check out past panel discussions that 4T’s has held at the New York Public Library here or see when the next one will take place here. 

-Samantha Phillips

What have been your experiences with the library? Do you feel that the public library system offers all that I described in my post?

After facing a life-threatening condition after a decade of "pseudo-teaching," Ramsey Musallam, a chemistry teacher in California, walked away with 3 rules he decided to use in his future teaching to spark learning, which he shares in the above Ted talk.

Musallam shares a picture of his four year old who is in the stage of constantly asking, ‘Why?,’ as well as a video of his student, Maddie, who went home after one of his lessons and continued to explore the concept covered in class. He juxtaposes these two examples with the issue of youth dropping out of school, whether it’s “the senior who's checked out before the year's even begun or that empty desk in the back of an urban middle school's classroom.”

This teacher attributes the difference between these extremes to the ability and willingness of teachers to engage with their students’ curiosity. He explains, “Questions and curiosity like Maddie's are magnets that draw us towards our teachers, and they transcend all technology or buzzwords in education. But if we place these technologies before student inquiry, we can be robbing ourselves of our greatest tool as teachers: our students' questions.”

Musallam outlines three rules to help instructors reach this goal:

The lecture closes with this last thought: “If we as educators leave behind this simple role as disseminators of content and embrace a new paradigm as cultivators of curiosity and inquiry, we just might bring a little bit more meaning to [students'] school day, and spark their imagination.” 

Oftentimes teachers can get stuck in the routine of their lessons, especially with the recent focus of administration and regulation on teaching to standards. I think Ramsey Musallam’s talk offers some great points about keeping vitality in the classroom in order to make the work of learning a back and forth between student and teacher. This approach will go much further than simply talking at students. I personally would like to see a lot more students like Maddie and kids who want to ask questions, rather than that empty seat in the back of the room. 

-Samantha Phillips

Which school of thought do you agree with and why?

There is currently a campaign called Don’t Steal Possible occurring in New York which is calling for change in the NY public education system. It has the support of parents, students, teachers, and celebrities as well as some fairly staggering statistics on its side. 

Don’t Steal Possible is demanding radical change because they can’t make their kids wait any longer. The supporters are holding up an example of certain schools, district and charter schools specifically, that are currently succeeding and are asking other institutions to replicate this model.

They’re pointing out that the issue is worse in certain communities: “It is clear that our crisis of failing schools predominantly affects children of color from under-served communities… At schools where the majority of students are living at or below the poverty level, achievement rates plummet.” And they’re highlighting the consequences of ignoring the problem as well. They make the fair point that educating and empowering students to succeed is the “linchpin of any meaningful attempt to restore opportunity to every New Yorker.”

Recently, Team Possible made a big move. On March 4th, 13,000 New Yorkers rallied in Albany to demand great schools for all kids. Janelle Monae performed a free public concert at the event. “It’s heartbreaking to know that there are 800,000 New York kids falling through the cracks every year,” Monae said in a statement. “I am honored to stand with families demanding an end to this crisis.” Monae isn’t alone; other supporters of the campaign include Questlove and members of the Roots, the Beastie Boys’ Mike D, and Estelle.

Even if you don’t agree with the proposed solution of the Don’t Steal Possible campaign, it’s hard to disagree with their facts: the NY public education has its faults and needs to be fixed. 

-Samantha Phillips

What would you suggest as a solution? Check out more about the Don’t Steal Possible campaign here and see what 4T’s Productions is doing to make a difference!

Sources:
Rolling Stone: Janelle Monae Playing Education Rally to Support New York Children
Families for Excellent Schools: Don't Steal Possible

Kasseem Dean, the famous producer better known as Swizz Beatz, recognizes the value of education, which he demonstrates not just with his words but with his actions.  Swizz Beatz made the decision to go back to school because he “wanted to get [his] education right” and was accepted into the elite Owner/President Management Extension Program at Harvard Business School.

Swizz has been posting about his educational journey on Instragram, expressing his excitement to be back in school and learning about topics that he can apply in his career.  The course is designed to be nine weeks long, divided over a three year time period so that students can take their lessons, apply them in the real business world, and then come back with their results.  Swizz Beatz has expressed the importance to him of this hands-on approach: “This is real life college, which is the best college for me….saying okay I can apply this to Reebok, I can apply this to helping other people out.” 

Swizz Beatz had certainly found success before this educational opportunity but also felt a real need to attend the program.  As a rapper who transitioned into the business side, he felt that despite being the person responsible for the occurrence of certain important meetings, he wasn’t respected in the meetings because he wasn’t able to contribute in the technical language.  This pushed him to consider pursuing his education past that of the high school degree he graduated with and the know-how he had picked up throughout his life. 

Upon reflecting on his high school education, he said, “Harvard has been something that I never dreamed of, coming from the South Bronx and never really taking a liking to school, just because of circumstances that I was in and I guess the circumstances that the teachers were in also.”  But Swizz Beatz refused to let a less than ideal educational system hold him back.  “My parents did a great job, but it still didn’t change the system…  But that’s not an excuse for me.  I didn’t want to use that as an excuse to not go back and tighten up and sharpen things up.”

Swizz Beatz is setting an inspiring example and will surely find even more success with the new tools he gains in a top-notch business education program.  4T’s recognizes his accomplishments, especially as a graduate of an inadequate NY public education institution.  We recognize the hard work that Swizz Beatz had to do on his own to identify his inherent skills and the relevance of education to his life.  4T’s hopes to provide programs to students to help them identify their own talents and grant them hands-on experience applying these skills in the real world so that all students will have a solid educational foundation in order to go on to do great things, such as Swizz Beatz.    

-Samantha Phillips

Please watch this clip to hear more of the quoted interview and follow the rest of Swizz Beatz’s journey to Harvard Business School certification on Instagram (@therealswizzz).  

This video discusses the importance of incorporating the concept of global citizenship into students' education.  Although global issues can be hard topics to tackle especially in a classroom with young audiences, it is a necessity for students to succeed in the globalized world we now live in.  With connectivity and communication at never-before-seen levels, students need to be aware of global issues and the happenings of the global economy. They need to be capable of reacting to events and contributing to the solutions to issues as well. The video points out that, "You can't make change in the world if you don't know the issues." 

Teach UNICEF is addressing this shortcoming in our education system by providing downloadable lesson plans for topics ranging from armed conflict to gender equality to poverty.  It designs lessons to be suitable for differing age groups.  

As I mentioned, at the present moment in our society it is not easy to broach these issues in school since there is such high sensitivity to "political" issues, especially inside the classroom. Yet I believe that we each have the responsibility to be knowledgeable about the global issues of our lifetime, and teachers have an even greater duty to take it upon themselves to introduce their students to the topic of global citizenship in the best way they can. At the very least, teachers should provide their students with tools to explore these topics on their own. 

Whether you are a teacher, parent, or student, global citizenship lessons are important to learn. Explore these topics with such tools as TeachUNICEF and then share what you know. Your personal success in the current globalized economy as well as the well-being of the world depends on it.

-Samantha Phillips

Please share any tools that you use to learn about global issues.  Thanks! 

Since the subject of state testing came up in both interviews with educators (see here and here), this week’s blog will explore New York’s state requirements, particularly the Regents Exams. 

According to the website of the New York State Education Department, students are currently “required to pass five Regents exams in high school in order to graduate – one each in English, science, math, as well as the U.S History and the Global Studies and Geography exams.”  New regulations, however, have added a “4+1” option that “permits a student to take four Regents exams and a comparably rigorous technical, arts, or other assessment for the fifth examination required for graduation.”

Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said that these new regulations aim to “improve the state’s 74.9 percent graduation rate, increase the percentage of students who graduate prepared for college and careers (currently 37.2 percent), and help prepare more students for success in the 21st century economy.”

On the other hand, there is talk of additional new requirements such as “by 2022, students will not only have to pass five Regents Exams to graduate, they’ll have to score at least 75 percent on the English exam and 80 percent on the math exam.”

So, this begs the real question: will either of these rules, and the Regents in general, help students graduate and succeed?  Do these tests prepare all students for the paths they plan to pursue after school?

Teachers are speaking out on the contrary.  Eileen Riley-Hill, a New York English teacher, writes, “There’s nothing wrong with high standards or standardized tests — but our schools need to serve all kids, and becoming “college-ready” shouldn’t be the only way to graduate high school.” 

She points out the fact that the Regents Exams were originally designed for students who planned to attend college, while Regents Competency Tests were offered for those interested in “fields outside traditional academics: auto mechanics, culinary arts, cosmetology, business, health care and on.”  Hill concludes, “There are many ways to succeed in life; we must offer many ways to succeed in school.” 

I agree that these fields are important and can offer students a road less traveled to success.  In fact, two past blog posts of mine have explored non-traditional careers, including in the culinary arts (click here to read more). 

In my opinion, education is meant to provide students with the tools they need to succeed in their everyday lives as citizens and professionals, regardless of whether that means pursuing their formal education further.  While college can offer significant benefits to students, this does not mean that the Regents Exams should prevent others from graduating high school because they aren’t prepared for college, an environment they don’t even intend to join.  State tests also shouldn’t limit teachers in the classroom so that they aren’t able to inspire students to become involved in their own education, whether that is on a college campus or on their own.  

The Regents Exams seem to be going against their own stated goals and taking away from the ultimate goal of education.  For this reason, they need to be honestly evaluated based on the real impacts they are having on students’ lives and their attitudes towards education.

-Samantha Phillips

What are your opinions on the Regents Exams or state testing in general?

Sources:
New York State Education Department: Board Of Regents Approves New Graduation Options
New York Post: New York’s diplomas leave too many kids out

There exists a relationship between the university, citizenship, and democracy.  The government passes laws which affect higher education, determining its goals and methods; citizens vote to elect the people who will represent their interests and beliefs in creating such laws; education is how voters become informed members of society who are capable of making such decisions.  This brief overview of the connections between these important topics reinforces why education is so important.  William Rainey Harper is one person who recognized this and within his lifetime made a significant impact on the higher education field.

Harper was a president of the University of Chicago.  His goal was to make the university into an institution that “focused on research and graduate training at the highest levels, but at the same time, was accessible to the most students” (PBS).  Harper was described by a Chicago journalist and professor as one of the “titans who had made [Chicago’s] history” and “the most unselfish of them all” (PBS).  In his book, The Trend in Higher Education, Harper wrote:

Although I agree with the overarching sentiment of this quote, I believe that it neglects a significant factor.  While the university does in fact proclaim the principles of democracy and investigate the past, it does so based on its own point of view, with its own motivations in mind.  Each university has a unique mission statement that it is trying to accomplish and an image it is hoping that its students will project once they leave the campus.  Each has its own culture and is trying to differentiate itself from competition.  With these realities in mind, I’m not sure that the university unites, reasons together, passes impartial judgments, or condemns corruption.  

Each individual university selects its community members based on criteria that it has put in place.  It wants to hire staff and faculty who will convey its message, and it accepts students who will be open to receiving the message.  Although universities are meant to welcome and encourage diversity of people and ideas, preserving a certain atmosphere requires that you are actually supporting some level of uniformity.  The university unites similar groups of people but alienates others, especially those who aren’t considered a good fit for any university community.  Furthermore, classes are formatted to evaluate students on how well they meet a professor’s expectations.  Although these expectations may be to challenge assumptions, oftentimes it works out to be how much you agree with a professor’s ideas instead.  

At the ideal level, the university would champion the best of democracy and instill in its members the tools to be a socially intelligent citizen, rather than molding students into the university’s own idea of the model citizen.  However, a system which does not allow everyone to study at a university and is a competitive business at its core could prove to be problematic.  As a generality, the university does remain an interpreter of democracy, though, which should attempt to produce more mature, intelligent citizens than they were when they entered the selective community.

-Samantha Phillips

Please share your views on the relationship between the university, citizenship, and democracy and/or William Rainey Harper's view.

Sources:
The Trend in Higher Education by William Rainey Harper
PBS: William Rainey Harper (1856-1906) and the University of Chicago

Philomena Reduzzi began her teaching career in 1986 at a regional college preparatory school of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania.  She taught grades 8 through 12 for 15 years.  She then began impacting the lives of students at a nearby public school in 2000.  During the course of her 15 years there, she taught grades 9 through 12, finally settling into 10th grade.  Below is an interview with Mrs. Reduzzi about her experiences in the education field. 

-Samantha Phillips

1. What motivated you to become an educator?

I want to be an educator to share my passion for literature.  Also, I genuinely care about the success of others, and want to help them succeed.  In my opinion, providing knowledge and sharing literature are the most important tools for success in life.  With knowledge, we are able to pursue the many different avenues in life and careers.  What motivates me to be an educator is for the “ah-ha” moment.  It’s that moment where a student makes the connection, and completely understands the lesson I am teaching.

2. Can you share a teaching moment of which you are particularly proud?

Many years ago I had a particular student who thought poetry was useless and made no sense to him. He felt it was a waste of his time. Then, we did a poetry unit; we read poems and discussed them and analyzed them. At the end of the unit, I had the class sit outside with their eyes closed and just listen. They then wrote their own poem based on what they heard and felt. The young man's poem was beautifully written and so very in tune with nature. We talked about the experience, and he said how he had come to view poetry in a totally different way. Those moments stay with a teacher a lifetime.

3. What changes have you seen develop over your career in the education field?

Honestly, there really aren't that many changes besides the focus on a Common Core and preparing the students to pass a standardized test. The way teachers teach and present information basically has stayed the same, just the "names" of the methodology have changed. We have gone from lecture and question and answering to direct instruction, the I do, we do, you do, and the Socratic method. We have gone from thick and thin questioning to the new Bloom's taxonomy and higher order thinking. It's just a change in terminology. We still focus on preparing students for the next level in their education and for the real world.  Also, we now adapt teaching to different student characteristics by using diverse methods of teaching. When I first started teaching, special education was conducted within its own self-contained classroom, and students did not have to score basic or proficient.

4. Have you personally noticed any systematic issues which limit or enhance learning in your classroom?

A few years ago, trying to adapt my teaching style to follow the "style of the month", I struggled to conform and felt I lost my way. I know I lost my passion for sharing the life-lesson literature has to offer. I was trying to conform in order to get my students to pass the standardized test. It just didn't work. My students did no better nor no worse, and the classroom environment lost its excitement.

5. In your own words, why is receiving an education important?

Education really isn't about solving mathematical equations or learning flawless speaking and writing of the language. It's about resourcefulness and problem-solving. Education gives us power and makes us capable of interpreting things rightly and applying the gathered information in real life scenarios.

6. What would you say to a student who has become disengaged with their education?

What I'd really like to say is get a clue...on the inside. Yet, I would ask why. Actually, I would probably badger incessantly, but I might start with..."Why don't you see the need to learn? If you give up on learning now, what will you do in the future? Education is a life-long experience and the second you stop learning, you stop living, truly."

Please share your reactions to these experiences of an educator.